The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1887-05-20

fast, Of drinking wine? If preaching be-
came a formidable menace the community
would forbid preaching just as it forbids
all p~aradine of the Salvation Army in
many eases. II there were any way Of
telling beforehand which oftwomen would
use his revolver ~wrongly,or which would
drive over a child or which become 4
drunkard, and which would not, the law
could forbid the one and allow the other to
indulge himself. But that is impossible;
the only resource is to stop the dangerous
indulgence altogether. Yonr luxury is in
one arm of the balance, but lives are in the
other: and the community in which .
luxury outweighs 4 life is a community
that calls for fire and birthstone. We are
arguing, You see, from your own stand
point, that the abuse OF wine is simply ill
It's immederate use. We believe that the
abuse of all alcoholic drinks begins where
THEN use as a medicine ends. Science up
holds us most cmphatically in this.
!, s. and .. Your facts are but half.
facts. Arkansas, South Carolina, and
Alabama are largely under the local Pro-
hibition, which accounts chiefly for the
small number Of retailers. Maine has not
951, nor Kansas 2,21S. nor Iowa ., 169 re-
tail liquor dealers. What ycu mean is
that there were so many federal permits
issued in those States. Bat in Maine that
includes the forty dealers who were a short
| fip,n o1sD fan1,, :c1i,,r ~ t1,1 81 t;,,o -
the Portland Jail, in spite of their federal
permits" In Iowa it includes the 100 or
more in Sioux City who have been driven
out of the State or thrown into jail in spite
IF their ''permits.' For the federal ''per-
nit can be obtained by any one on pay
meat Of 525; but it gives he one the right
to violate any laws Of the State OF city in
which he lives. In Maine, Kansas, or
Iowa. a man with a federal ''permit" can
be arrested just as quickly for selling
liquor as any other man.
10. Partly because 30 per cent. of Mich
igan's population now are foreigners; part
ly because of fraudulent voting and count
ing. and partly because many were delud-
ed, as Mr.. Gilmore has been, by false
figures and facts. The only ''prohibitory''
law that ever received a decent trial in
Michigan was a law allowing the sale Of
termented liquors. of course that sort of
prohibition did not prohibit. 1t must be
remembered, too, that in Michigan, Massa-
chusetts, and other states much of the So
called trial of prohibition began Just
before the tllroes of civil war commenced
to rock the nation. and men dropped all
other work to settle that. Nevertheless,
there are some conspicuous instances Of
the failure of prohibition. both in Michigan
and Massachusetts. Why? Because the
law would not enforce itself, and the Off
Gals didn't propose TO enforce it. Such
cases are what have caused the formation
Of the Prohibition party, which proposes
to see whether the Ak which will not chop
of itself, can not be made to chop when
there are strong arms and a willing heart
behind If.
II and II. The universal testimony
from the citizens of Maine is, that Prohi-
bition has intellectually reduced the evils of
drink. Every Governor for twenty years
has so testified. Mr.. Blaine, Senators
Frye and Hale, and the Congressmen testi-
~ the same. The people by a vote of three
to one. after 80 years trial of the law, put
it into the State Constitution. Such evil
dence ought to settle the question as far as
Maine iS anpoapuod
13. The matter Of compensation, i'll the
event Of Prohibition, should be left to the
decision Of the court. We don't believe in
it ourselves, AS for Henry Georges
theory, it inyolves-wherc 10 compensa-
ton is given-a v collation. on the part of
the State OF its own contracts. It has sold
to men millions of acres of land on the un-
derstanding that they were TO be the own
ers Of the land. Now to deprive them of
that ownership is violation of contract.
That part, at least, OF Henry Georges
theory will not stand. But there is no
such contract with the liquor dealers.
There is another important distinction.
Georges plan contemplates the confisca-
ton, for public use, of property. Prohi-
bition con1iseates no mans property. It
simply forbids him to use it so as to endan-
ger the public welfare.
II, -. The fact that the great men men
toned drank liquor does not prove, in any
degree, that the liquor traffic was an aid to
their mental orphysical powers. .Esop, Du
Guesclin, the Duke Of Luxembourg, Rich
ard 1T, and Alexander Pope are all said to
have been more or less deformed in the
back. Nevertheless, to be u hunchbaek is
a misfortune. They were great in spite of
that, not because Of it. The majority Of
great men have had corns: but corns did
not make them great. The drinking ON
the part OF Washington was very sparing,
as also is that Of Mr.. Gladstone.
is. The truth and beauty of Christ's
teachings were not affected by iscariot's
treason, For the matter Of that, however,
we know anumber Of ''moderate'' drinkers
who vote the Prohibition ticket, because
they believe in Prohibition as n public
policy. They recognize the distinction
between 4 matter o fpublic policy and ono
Of personal habit. They will GLADLY give
mp their cups when the saloons arc routed.